54% of those polled in eastern Germany call arms deliveries to Ukraine excessive

In western Germany, 39% of those polled called arms deliveries to Kyiv excessive, compared with 54% of respondents in the east, according to an ARD-Deutschlandtrend poll, whose results were published by the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

“I wouldn’t call this a pro-Russian position, however. It’s more about a desire to rely more on diplomacy rather than fuel a conflict that Ukraine cannot win with ever more weapons deliveries,” political scientist Johannes Varwick said, commenting on the poll’s results.

The poll also found that 56% of Germans see Russia as a strong or very strong threat, though residents of eastern Germany and supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were far less likely to share that view.

ARD-Deutschlandtrend polls conducted in recent years also show declining public support for Ukraine, according to Deutsche Welle. The outlet attributes the shift partly to active campaigning against Ukraine aid by the AfD and the BSW parties, both of which argue that the money spent on Ukraine could instead address social needs inside Germany.

In early September, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) won elections in Saxony-Anhalt with the party’s best-ever result: almost 44% of the vote. The victory gave the far right a chance to form a government in one of Germany’s federal states for the first time in the country’s postwar history.